Helen Holiday Half Marathon

Last Saturday (December 16th) I ran my first trail half marathon in the GA mountains. It was run by Run Bum and is billed as one of their more fun and "easier" trail runs. It started and ended in Unicoi park in Helen GA. The temperature was right at freezing to start the race at 9 am but it warmed up to the 40's later in the morning. I decided to run in shorts with a long sleeve shirt and it worked out pretty well.

I haven't really been running much long distance and I've certainly never run trails with so much up and down run. Going down the hills was definitely really hard on my legs, particularly towards the end when I was getting tired. At about mile 9 (I think) there was a creek crossing. I guess I should have read about the course ahead of time because I was not prepared for that :).  It was about 15 yards across and about calf deep. It was of course very cold but what bothered me most was how heavy it made my feet and legs feel running afterwards. And of course I didn't have dry socks or shoes to change into...oh well.

Showing off my shirt and medal from the race

I felt really good during most of the race. Running in very cold temperatures always helps me. I was continually trying to find people just a little faster than me to try and keep up with and challenge my self. I was definitely started to suffer the last few miles but I was pretty impressed with how I powered through it. I managed to get 35th (time was about 2 hours even) out of about 250 runners. Not too shabby. And more importantly...a ton of fun. The had a guy playing bagpipes as we rounded the lake early in the course. It sounded really cool. Creature Comforts was at the finish serving us their Tropicalia IPA in our new pint glasses. It is always a great beer but it tasted unbelievable after finishing that race. I hung out for a while, had some snacks, watched others finish, and enjoyed my beer before heading home. Maybe next year I'll bring the family and stay for the post race part at one of the local restaurants. These Run Bum and Yeti trail races are so much fun.

New Zealand - Nov-Dec 2017

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to New Zealand for a leptospirosis conference on the north island and then travel to the south island to give a seminar at the University of Otago. I'm not going to write much  because I'm lazy and I'd rather just share photos but it was an amazing trip and I'd love to go back. The people were great and the scenery is not to be matched. We had a great time birding, running, and hiking anytime we could squeeze it in. Hopefully Diane and I can go one day.

Our first hike and birding on North Island (Palmerston North)

Can you believe this is a fern? The diversity of ferns here is insane!

Check out these spores on the underside of the fern leaves

A fantail near the hotel in Palmerston North

Cow and sheep farm we visited for conference

View from the top of the property at the farm - it's higher than it looks

Hike number 2 that Renee and I did

Swimming hole

I don't like heights but this was sturdy and I walked across with no problem

After we hiked above the snow line for a bit we had to turn back because we had run out of time. We saw a few folks earlier who slide down the snowy part on their butts and it looks like great fun so we decided to give it a try. It was actually much steeper than I though once I got into position to slide down but it was the most fun I've had in years. Felt like a kid again :)
The link below will show you the video of it on Youtube...check it out!

https://youtu.be/GK14h4WTKB8

We were hoping to make it to Mueller hut but we only had about 4 hours total. We did make it above the snow line though!
 

Forget the name but this was about an our north of Dunedin

Dunedin train station - they say it is the 2ns most photographed building in world...behind Sydney Opera House

Yellow-eyed penguin

 

I think I added about 23 new species to my birding life list but the big three were seeing the Little Blue penguin, Yellow-eyed penguin and the Royal Albatross. Unfortunately it sounds like the yellow-eye population in rapidly declining on the mainland and may disappear in the coming decades. We were lucky enough to see 3 come in from the ocean in the evening after a day of feeding at sea. Learning about and seeing the albatrosses was also amazing but I couldn't get a good picture. Did you know they only come back to land once every 2 years to mate. They are at sea the rest of the time and can drink sea water! Those were highlights but I must say I also fell in love with local Fantail and Tui birds. 

2017 Family Summer Vacation

Just got back from a great trip to see family and friends in VT and NH. Diane and the kids went up and stayed with her parents for a week in VT. I joined them a week later for a couple nights in VT and then we drove to NH to stay with my brother Brad and visit with all my family. We were also able to visit with, Adam and Tanya (UNH friends), at the beach with their family. We learned to play a cool Swedish game with them called Molkky. Before I share the few photos I took with family and friends (We are getting really bad about that), let me tell you about my worst airline travel to date!
The plan was to fly from Atlanta to LaGuardia and then to Manchester to NH. Here is what happened.
1. flight delayed an hour
2. Got on plane and then told delay would continue because of bad weather in LaGuardia. I think we sat on plane about an hour but I forget.
3. We circle LaGuardia but can't land because they are so backed up due to weather problems and we start to run out of fuel so we head to Baltimore (BWI)
4. On the way to BWI we have a plane problem which is worked on in Baltimore (another hour I think)
5. Head to LaGuardia again but the autopilot goes crazy when we try to land and the pilot says he is not comfortable trying to land in these weather conditions without autopilot (low visibility due to storm and fog). So we fly to Harrisburg PA and land. It's about 1 am at this point and nobody knows what is going on.
6. We sleep on the floor next to claim #4 baggage claim for a couple hours (about 3:30 am to 5). I am freezing and get almost no sleep.
7. In the morning most people opt to take a bus back to LaGuardia at 9 am instead of getting on our "fixed" plane at noon. I manage to take some totally different flights and reroute to new end point.
8. Fly to Detroit around noon?
9. Fly to Albany NY
10. Rent car and drive to Wallingford VT.

The trip took 2 days! I was so exhausted. But man did that Scotch with Diane's dad taste so good when I got there!

Sarah and I in VT

Karen and Diane in our overloaded boat on way back from Sarah/Crae lake house (Lake Winnipesauke)

 

Adam and I after day at the beach

Adam, Tanya and I

Brad, Crae, and I (brothers) in NH at Brad's house

Visit to my old KY homes and John5 concert

Initially this trip was schooled just because I really wanted to see John5. He wasn't coming to Atlanta so I figured it would be fun to go see him in Newport KY with my high school friends: Joe and Jason. We'll it turned out my step-sister, Stacy, had her baby 2 weeks prior to the trip so I also got to meet my new niece, Rory. And Joe hosted a little gathering of our high school friends which was a blast. To make it more of an adventure I of course rode my BMW (black beauty). I also got to see my other step-sister, Lisa, and her son Jake on my ride home through TN. It was a packed trip but it was so much fun. It was so good to see everybody and the concert was amazing.

The show was at this small venue in Newport called The Southgate House Revival. I was just 1 person back from the stage. It was so cool to see them playing so close. It was still hard to get still photos because of the lighting but I did take some neat video which you can check out at the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkVi4ov1OfI

I was so impressed with John5 and the Creatures. Just 3 musicians playing great music. And it looked like John5 was having as much fun as us. I love that. He seems like such a humble cool dude too. I bought a shirt and signed CD (Season of the Witch) at the show. I have been playing that CD nonstop.

Moments after he walked on stage for first song with LED lights in mouth

John5 with Mickey shoes - just after I'm back from Disney :)

That guitar is sick!

Joe and I cruised around one morning visiting my old homes, eating some Cincinnati chili at Gold Star and checking out this World Peace Bell. It was the largest swinging bell in the world when it was dedicated in 1999. It weighs 66,000 lbs and is 12 ft wide! The swinging mechanism wasn't working while we were there but the striker was and the woman who worked there was happy to strike it for us a few times! (see video at end of this post)

World Peace Bell in Newport KY

 

World Peace Bell



Gold Star Chili

I spent an afternoon at Stacy's house visiting her, Nick, Sharon and of course new baby Rory. She was adorable. The whole family will go up and see her for sure this summer. Always fun to hang with family.


Baby Rory with Sharon

Sharon and I

Stacy, me, and Sharon

Mini reunion (Jason, Marina, Jen, Stefanie, Traci, Joe and me)

Again but with laughter :)

On the ride home I stopped in Morristown TN to have lunch with Lisa and Jake at Holston's Kitchen. I haven't seen Jake since he was a little kid. I really have only seen Lisa for a few moments here and there since my wedding 20 years ago. Pretty sad since they aren't that far away. We had a great time at lunch. I really need to try and see them more. After lunch I had trouble starting the bike. I eventually got it started and managed to continue my ride home but each time I stopped for gas it was a problem. My speedometer and odometer also stopped working somewhere in TN. I'm afraid Black Beauty is starting to show her age :(

Me, Jake, and Lisa after lunch in TN

What an adventure! This video which Emily put together for my and posted on YouTube is an overview of the whole trip. My first Vlog :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW8GKtZJagM&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop

2017 Spring Break in Everglades and Disney World!

Well, we decided to splurge a bit on spring break this year. The kids are growing up (Drew is junior and Emily a freshman) so we don't have much more time to do some of these things together with them. We decided to do the Everglades (which none of us have been to) and Walt Disney World. We threw in a couple side trips too. We spent one night with my cousin Kimberly's family near Tampa Bay and on the way to their place we stopped and had lunch with the Cameron's in St Petersburg, who were also on spring break down in Florida.

We did a lot of hiking and two boat trips in the everglades. One of the rides was "back country" and went into the mangroves and the other went into the bay. I thought the one in the mangroves was a lot better but out in the bay we did get to see tons of my favorite bird - Osprey! We even got to see them nesting with babies. Emily got sick of my asking to take pictures. I tried to do some birding on this trip and use my new eBird app. I saw lots of cool birds but the raptors were definitely my favorite: Osprey and Swallowed-tailed Kites. It was also the first time I had seen American Crocodiles which was sweet. The bottom of Florida is their northern most range and only place where they overlap with American alligators. We were hoping to see some manatees and there was supposed to be a family of them near the visitor center but we didn't have any luck. Bummer.

 

White Ibis near Anhinga Trail



American Alligator along Anhinga Trail

Red-winged black bird (Emily photo)

Osprey (Emily photo)

Me and an Anhinga (Emily photo)

Purple Gallinule (Emily photo)

American alligator (Emily photo)

Great Egret (Emily photo)

American Crocodile (Emily photo)

Little Blue Heron (Emily photo)

Mangroves (Emily photo)

Double-crested Cormorant (Emily photo)

Osprey and nest in tree (Emily photo)

It was hot in the Everglades but I never thought it was unbearable. And the mosquitos were around but they generally weren't a huge problem except for one particular trail. I don't know what the deal with that trail was but we actually had to turn around and run back to the car. They were insane and unstoppable. And of course they get in the car with you :)



View from a rest area on the way to St Petersburg for lunch!

We had a lovely visit with my cousin Kim and her family (the Lashers) in the Tampa Bay area. We stayed with them one night before heading to Orlando for Disney. The kids had fun playing games and we had some delicious pizza. I don't remember the name of the place but we got NY and Chicago style pizza. I never get Chicago style and I love it. It was really great. Who would have thought to go to Florida for great pizza. Ian also picked up a few great craft beers to sample. On of them used the coffee that is uses beans that have passed through (pooped) a civet cat. It was actually quite good :)
I hope we can see them again soon!

All the kids playing videos at Kim's house

The Lashers and Hoffmasters!

Drew and Emily with the girls

We have been to Disney a couple times but the kids were really small the first time when we went with my whole family and stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - they have no memory of it. And the second time I think we just spent one day there as part of one of my Disney marathons. I really wanted this trip to be special like my memories of Disney so I talked Diane into splurging and staying at the Polynesian Resort which I remember staying at as a child. I especially remember the cool pool with it tube slide and water fall. It still there and we all loved it!



View from our room window

A fruity rum beverage in a pineapple at the hotel.




The Floridian Resort across the water



Fire throwing dude at the Luau




Us headed to the Luau

Well what did we do? I'm sure I won't remember everything but we did:

Magic Kingdom

It's a Small World - still one of my favorites and must do every time
Haunted Mansion
Peter Pan's Flight - such a thrill when your cart initially takes you into the air. And such a fun interactive line.
Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Swiss Family Tree house
Tom Sawyer Island
Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid
Fireworks

Hollywood Studios

Tower of Terror
Star Tours- the Adventures Continue
Muppet Vision 3D
Toy Story Mania

 Epcot

Spaceship Earth
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Mission SPACE -Emily's favorite. A bit claustrophobic for me. I'll never do it again but it was amazing and felt so real.
Soarin - Diane and I's favorite
Living with the Land - Drew's favorite
World Showcase: Germany, Japan, China and others
Fireworks




The Tower of Terror -Priceless! Look at Drew and Diane :)

 


Photo op before the Tower of Terror ride



I love me some monorail!




Us at Epcot



Emily and Drew in hotel lobby




Castle at Magic Kingdom




Us heading into Magic Kingdom at night for rides and fireworks.

 

Seven Dwarf's Mine Train coaster

I took this somewhere in Polynesian Resort

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at our hotel - such a cool place!

A few words about Trader Sam's Grog Gotto. Such a cool bar. Diane and I had an afternoon beverage there one day. Kim told us this was a place to visit. The picture above was taken when someone ordered some sort of zombie drink. The whole room went purple with sounds affects and then some dude walking like a zombie delivers a drink. For another one of the drinks, the room went red and the volcano in the fake window erupts. The drink itself had bright light shooting out of it. It's all very hard to describe. I think they had about 7-9 drinks on the menu that had these interactive presentations. Unfortunately when Diane and I went back later in the evening we couldn't get a seat. I was really hoping to see more. Maybe next time.



Phenias and Ferb! We used to love watching that show!

We had an amazing week. Of course it wasn't all peaches and crème. The kids had their typical late afternoon tired and grumpy moments when they just wanted to stop walking and go back to the room. Oh yes, and the whining about having to take their photo with Pluto! Mom just wanted to re-create a picture from their childhood and all they did was complain...but I think they were both really happy they did it afterwards. I'm sure my child hood trips weren't perfect either - they just seem that way looking back. I hope that's true for my kids too.